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Newcastle United picking up a rare away win in the Premier League should’ve been a joyful night for those of a Magpies persuasion.

Indeed, before this trip to Turf Moor, Newcastle had suffered back-to-back defeats on the road to Sunderland and Manchester United, so it would have been a relief that they managed to get the better of Scott Parker’s relegation-threatened Burnley side 3-1.

Still, it was far from a vintage Magpies showing, with journalist Craig Hope – come the end of the topsy-turvy contest – stating that the final scoreline was “not a reflection of how this game played out”, with Burnley spurning several chances to snatch a share of the points, or even a win.

Thankfully, there were enough positive performers from the away side’s perspective to clinch all three points, as Joelinton, Yoane Wissa, and Bruno Guimaraes shared out the goal load.

But the lack of a cutthroat nature deep within the Newcastle ranks will irk Howe as he contemplates changes for the Toon’s return to St James’ Park versus Crystal Palace in the New Year.

Newcastle underperformers who could be dropped

Having watched their rampant side race into a two-goal lead after seven minutes, the travelling Newcastle faithful would have wanted to see their clinical side wipe the floor with their lowly hosts.

Instead, Burnley were afforded a way back into the contest, and if it hadn’t been for some sloppy Burnley defending for both Wissa’s first-ever Magpies goal and Guimaraes’ fortuitous match-winning moment, Parker and Co could have collected only a fourth league win of the season.

Harvey Barnes was notably out of sorts throughout, as the ex-Leicester City winger could only manage a forgettable 27 touches of the ball, as per Sofascore, to try and add to his seven-goal tally for the season.

Moreover, Sandro Tonali fell way below his usual energetic standards when only winning two of his six duels on the night, with Howe perhaps prepared to drop both these usual members of his starting XI as the games come thick and fast.

Newcastle World’s Jordan Cronin would even note, in his post-match musings, that the Italian has been “iffy” for some time now, meaning a shock removal from the main lineup could soon be on the cards.

He’s far from the only first-team stalwart frustrating those on Tyneside, however, with another below-par showing put in from this £150k-per-week attacker at Turf Moor only solidifying further why Newcastle need some reinforcements in January.

The flop who showed why Howe needs to sign an upgrade

Newcastle have already been linked with a long list of attacking names as the chaotic transfer window edges ever closer to reopening, with both Bazoumana Toure and Oscar Bobb tipped to join Howe’s ranks to enhance the manager’s options down either flank.

Based on Anthony Gordon’s showing in Lancashire, Newcastle desperately need to sign an upgrade on their hit-and-miss forward in the New Year.

Indeed, the ex-Everton attacker was a very frustrating player to watch, as an assist after two minutes for Joelinton’s breakneck opener ended up being a rare bright spark.

Gordon’s performance in numbers

Stat

Gordon

Minutes played

80

Goals scored

0

Assists

1

Touches

53

Shots

2

Shots on target

0

Accurate passes

23/28 (82%)

Accurate crosses

0/5

Possession lost

17x

Total duels

5/12

Stats by Sofascore

After that glimpse of quality, Gordon offered very little else, with the lacklustre number ten coming off on the 80th minute mark with zero accurate crosses registered and just two shots attempted at Martin Dubravka’s goal.

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Additionally, his passing was largely haphazard all night as he gave away the ball a careless 17 times, while the England international also only won five of his 12 duels, as he often shirked the responsibility of rolling his sleeves up and getting dirty for the cause.

He was also, arguably, at fault for Josh Laurent’s sweetly struck volley beating Nick Pope, with the aforementioned Cronin accusing him of being “lazy” when trying to shut down the goalscoring number 29.

Gordon would be handed a low 4/10 post-match rating by Cronin, consequently, with Newcastle desperately needing some fresh blood down the right flank at this stage, so they don’t have to over-rely on their hit-and-miss winger to deliver the goods.

With only three goal contributions picked up all season long in the Premier League, there must be an upgrade out there somewhere for Newcastle when the window reopens, with Gordon suffering from another “all over the place” outing against Burnley, as journalist Adam Clery criticised him earlier in the season.

Yet, it’s not all doom and gloom, as Newcastle did at least sign off on 2025 with a win, even if Gordon did put in another worrying performance.

Related Woltemade 2.0: Newcastle chasing "one of the most exciting young wingers"

Newcastle United can repeat the success story of their Nick Woltemade deal by landing this attacker in January.

Posts ByKelan Sarson

Three of Bermuda’s squad members who should have appeared in their side’s Stanford 20/20 campaign are facing lengthy bans after failing a drugs test.”If any athlete has tested positive with us we then send a portion of the specimen to the government lab for confirmation,” Cathy Belvedere, a spokesman for the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sports, told newspaper. “And if it is confirmed positive they then get a one year infraction.”They can apply for the domestic application whereas they won’t be able to represent Bermuda during that year but can go back to playing gymnastics, football, cricket or whatever sport they are involved in,” Belvedere added. “They would also have to agree to some counselling, but that’s only if there’s a positive find.”Although the identity of the players is not yet known, it was confirmed that two of the trio represented Somerset – one of Bermuda’s domestic teams – while the other is “a prominent member” of St George’s, the domestic champions.”All of the players [in the national team] were tested, but unfortunately not everyone cleared the process which has policies in place that all national bodies must adhere to,” Reggie Pearman, president of the Bermuda Cricket Board, said. “All of the players knew what was required of them and what the consequences were.”

‘Now it is up to the performance on the day and each game and that’s where the pressure is going to be’ © AFP

Greg Chappell, India’s coach, was confident and positive in the pre-departure press conference ahead of India’s campaign in the forthcoming World Cup in the Caribbean. “We’re all looking forward to the World Cup. It’s the showpiece tournament in one-day cricket and we are in as good a position as we could have been,” he said. “The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle have fallen into place in the last few weeks. There is a good balance, good experience and youth in the squad, and a good variety in bowling and batting. That will give us a wide range of options no matter what the condition and no matter what the opposition.”Over the recent months India’s journey in limited-overs cricket has been far from smooth, and the fielding has come in for specific criticism. But Chappell did not think the fielding would be a major worry. “The fielding in the last few games has been good,” he said. “We have worked hard on it and will continue to so in the World Cup. The positive side is that we have got some 1900 ODIs between the group and that hopefully will offset any deficiencies anywhere.”The one aspect that Chappell and Rahul Dravid have been insisting on over the last year and more has been the need for flexibility within the squad, and Chappell was happy with how this side of the game had shaped up. “We have cover for pretty much all the key players and key positions. We have got flexibility in bowling and batting. We have got a squad that we can expect to do well with,” he said, adding a note of caution. “Obviously now it is down to execution. We can do all the preparation that we have done and continue to do in the Word Cup, but now it is up to the performance on the day and each game and that’s where the pressure is going to be.”But Chappell, who has come in for some criticism for changes in the batting order, would not be drawn into saying who would open the batting in the World Cup. “We cannot really talk about that at the moment because a lot of it will depend on the conditions and opposition. We have some plans and ideas on which we have been working towards in the recent months,” he said. “We have got the options to do a number of things and to mix the batting order in a number of ways but we have some strong ideas of where we play players and what sort of role that they will have. We will be sitting down with players and reinforcing them once we reach the West Indies. To talk about that will be a bit premature at this stage.”Chappell also said that India could take some pointers from their recent trip to the West Indies, although they lost the one-dayers 1-4 on that tour. “Obviously we have some experience in West Indies. We are not playing on some of the grounds that we played last year and will play on some new grounds,” he said. “I do not expect the conditions to be very different from what I have experienced in the last 30 years. In a World Cup the intention will be to get the best possible batting wickets and that certainly doesn’t do us any harm as batting is our strength. It’s really a matter of what we do on that day and execution can be the decider. If anyone is going to have an advantage you will think it will be the home team. But then again the hosts have never won a World Cup.”When asked about the terms “process” and “systems”, which are common enough and yet have taken some rather negative connotations vis-à-vis the Indian team, Chappell said there was always work to do and ways to improve. “They have come along well from the point that we have come to this, where we have a fit and in-form team ready to go for the World Cup. It’s been successful but it’s a never ending process and you try to improve the group and each player tries to improve himself,” he said. “The coaching staff is trying to expand its vision and range and in all ways and will continue in the World Cup and after the World Cup. I suppose we will be able to answer that question definitively after the World Cup.”Chappell also did not want to read too much into Australia’s recent run of losses. “It shows that New Zealand is a good side. It shows that England has made some progress. No doubt it will effect Australia’s balance if [Brett] Lee and [Andrew] Symonds are not going to be there, but I am sure they have got good cricketers there. Stuart Clark has come in and maybe he will be the player of the series for them,” he said. “The loss would have made them a bit hungrier and determined to play well. I would have preferred that they won all the matches and gone to the West Indies overconfident. Now they will be right on the job. We will have our job cut out.”

‘Nobody has lost a single paisa’ – Dalmiya © AFP

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) president, has strongly denied the charges of financial irregularities made against him by the current BCCI regime. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata today, Dalmiya said he had replied to each of the charges to to the BCCI’s marketing committee.The BCCI had last week asked Dalmiya to clarify certain financial transactions made during the 1996 World Cup by the PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Sri Lanka), the organising body which Dalmiya was the convenor secretary. The charges included the transfer of certain amounts to the Cricket Association of Bengal.”Nobody has lost a single paisa — be it BCCI or Cricket Association of Bengal”, Dalmiya today said.”The new convenor secretary of PILCOM (Niranjan Shah) has made a wild, defamatory charge through innuendo. I wish to state categorically that I am not aware of any amount being due from TWI … It is expressly reiterated that not a single penny was misappropriated and the BCCI received the entire amount with due justifications.”Asked if he was contemplating any legal action, he said, “I have already given the papers to my lawyers, once I find things are going too much beyond control, I will not hesitate in moving the judiciary.”He added that he had some revelations to make about the current regime. “I have a lot to tell. I will come to you very soon. Only I know what kind of transparency they have. I have nursed the BCCI like my child. If something grossly wrong is being done, I’ll come back to you. You have to just wait.”Turning to the goings-on in the February 21 meeting, Dalmiya said that a ten-page document was circulated and he was asked to answer without knowing the contents. “I wanted seven days’ time. But such was the aggressiveness of some of the members, that they wanted me to reply then and there,” he continued.However, Dalmiya praised Sharad Pawar, the board chief, for not bowing to the pressure tactics of those members. Releasing to the media his reply to Shah’s note as also various other documents pertaining to the PILCOM, Dalmiya clarified that it had only one account maintained by Pakistan and India at Citibank, London. “It has no other account anywhere, be it Kolkata or any other place.”

Virender Sehwag is a one-man army, and his team-mates are most grateful for that© Getty Images

On his record against Pakistan
My aim is to score against anybody whether it is Pakistan or anybody else. My aim is to just play my normal game and score runs.On the difference between his Mohali century and here
About 25-30 runs. You try and learn from your mistakes from other innings and when you play a long one like this then it feels good.On the state of the match
The wicket is still very good for batting. It depends on how we play tomorrow, if we bat well till tea for example then the pressure will be on Pakistan whether they want to play for a draw or go for a win. If we get near 500 quickly enough then the pressure will be on Pakistan.On getting out to Danish Kaneria
I think after I reached my 200 it would have helped if there was a gap of about one over in between. I lost my concentration a little bit. My aim was to stay and bat throughout the day but I was very sad at getting out so soon after my double century.On whom he found most difficult to face
I found no-one difficult today.On adapting between one-day and Test matches
I don’t want to change my game whatever the situation or the type of match. If you are performing well and scoring runs then you don’t need to adapt your game. You don’t need to change your thinking if you are doing well.On his confrontation with Mohammad Sami
I think I handled it well enough. He was trying to bowl short into my ribs and I just defended it. I just knew that I wasn’t getting out to his bowling. He was trying to put pressure on me by having a chat, trying to distract me but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to repeat it here.On who he dedicated this innings to
My wife, she was here today.On the pace of his batting
I don’t think about the pace of my batting. The only thing in my mind is that I have to hit the loose balls to the boundary. If I miss out, I always think I can do it off the next ball.On becoming the fastest Indian to reach 3000 runs
I didn’t know I was the fastest but I knew I was going to reach the landmark today.On the wicket
I don’t think it is a good Test-match wicket. Pakistan made nearly 600 runs and we have made nearly 400 runs. So many runs in three days of cricket can’t be a good wicket for Test match cricket. Pitches have to help both bowlers and batsmen to make it interesting.

Robert Croft, who announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday, has warned that England won’t produce a match-winning spinner unless there are drier pitches at county level.Croft, who took 49 Test wickets at 37.24, said, “I know there’s an instruction from Lord’s saying that pitches must start dry, but it either gets ignored or it’s because of the climate we have in this country, but it doesn’t happen.”Because of that, a lot of the spin bowlers don’t adopt an aggressive or positive attitude towards bowling spin in this country,” he continued. “We tend to get used a lot to hold up an end while the seamers have a break. Then you’re expected to go away and bowl on turning pitches. If you haven’t got a positive mindset it’s very tough to do.”Croft, who took 35 wickets overseas, compared with 14 at home, added, “We have to develop more of a positive attitude towards spin bowling and the only way we can do that is to start producing drier pitches. When you do play on a pitch that is dry and get some wickets, if you come up against a green pitch in the next game you’ll spin it more.”If you play on drier wickets on a regular basis then I’m sure you would see a vast improvement in spin bowling.”

Richard Scragg’s spare innings at the top of the order, and combative performances by Glen Sulzberger and Bevan Griggs, kept Central Districts in the hunt for first innings points after the third day of their State Championship match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve today.Central were 260/7 at stumps, responding to Wellington’s first innings total of 326/8 declared, and with a day remaining and a possibility of rain, the prize of two points for a first innings led has loomed larger in the sights of both teams.There were times today when a first innings result seemed to have slipped beyond Central’s grasp and they flirted with the possibility of declaring in deficit to leave Wellington to concoct the prospect of an outright result tomorrow.But after Scragg had provided an anchor to the innings and Sulzberger had followed him to a half century, particularly when Griggs disturbed the equilibrium of the match with a quick 49, Central’s expectations changed.They still believed at stumps, despite the exposure of their tail, that they might be able to eke out the 67 runs tomorrow which will give them a first innings lead and two points, though no other result might then be achievable.Wellington’s desperation for points is much greater than Central’s and they would have hoped the match would have been far more advanced by stumps. The New Zealand first-class champions have only one point near the end of this third round of Championship matches and they need at least first innings points here to begin closing the gap on the leaders.They would have hoped for a Central declaration behind and there were times today when it seemed it might come, particularly when Sulzberger was out and Central were 203/6. Central considered a declaration at that point but Griggs was then in full flight and as he hurried to 49 from only 88 balls with eight fours the incentive to freely award Wellington first innings points declined.Central also rationalised that it might rain tomorrow – the forecast is not promising – and that they would have shown unnecessary generosity in giving up the first innings points without a greater fight.Central’s progress through this third day, which began 18 minutes late because of a damp outfield, was slow at times. Scragg’s was a innings of almost glacial slowness but he still played an important hand as he reached his first first-class half century in three minutes less than four hours.Scragg, formerly of Auckland and whose previous highest first-class score was 24, batted for 253 minutes and received 196 balls from which he carved only four boundaries but he was at the crease till Central had reached 152/4.He shared a 66-run first wicket stand with David Kelly, who made 34 in 116 minutes, and which lasted from before stumps last night to within sight of lunch this afternoon.Kelly’s dismissal brought to the wicket Black Caps batsman Mathew Sinclair who stood in glaring need of a long innings to repair his form and confidence after an unproductive tour of Australia and before the announcement tomorrow of the New Zealand Test team to meet Bangladesh.Sinclair survived 33 minutes and accumulated 16 runs with a single boundary before he rashly, or rather dreamily, cut short his own innings when he backed up too far and was run out at the non-striker’s end. He had advanced too far down the wicket in support of Scragg and seemed cast when Matthew Bell fetched the ball at mid on, turned and threw down his wicket.Ben Smith came and went, contributing only nine runs in a 15-run stand with Scragg, before he was caught by Chris Nevin from the bowling of James Franklin for nine. Franklin bowled unproductively for the remainder of the day and is lacking the rhythm he showed at times last season.Scragg was out when Central were 153/2, bowled by Jeetan Patel who had previously dismissed Kelly and who ended the day with 3-80 from 31 overs. Patel bowled with beguiling flight and only a little turn, particularly into the wind, and he drifted one through Scragg’s previously impenetrable defence, knocking off his leg bail.Jamie How was out for 0, then Sulzberger and Griggs added 51 for the sixth wicket before Sulzberger’s dismissal for 56 – the innings’ highest score. He had batted 164 minutes and hit seven fours.Griggs carried on positively, striking two sixes from Patel’s bowling over the long leg side boundaries. His was an innings which progressively tipped the match Central’s way or at least took some of the initiative from Wellington.Andrew Schwass further defrayed the deficit when he took 24 from 44 balls before stumps. He had added 15 with Brent Hefford, who was two not out at the close.Wellington’s medium pace attack functioned poorly for much of the day. Its leader, Andrew Penn, was twice removed from the attack after being warned for running on the pitch while bowling with the wind at his back. He bowled with some economy, conceding only 29 runs from 17 overs, but did not always compel the batsman to play a shot.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt took until the final day of the final Test but Pakistan at last managed a reprise of England’s 2012 nightmare against spin. They needed less than half of the overs available to polish off victory in Sharjah, Yasir Shah taking the first and last wickets to fall as Pakistan skipped home by a 127-run margin for a 2-0 win that will lift them to No. 2 in the ICC Test rankings.Alastair Cook resisted almost until the end, ninth man out for 63, but his team had been cut adrift during a dizzying first hour when they lost 4 for 11 in five overs. England were competitive for all but two sessions in the series but on both occasions, here and in Dubai, Pakistan were ruthless enough to seize the prize.The conditions were perhaps not as treacherous as England’s batsmen made them look but Yasir and Zulfiqar Babar did not need encouragement to prey on the slightest hesitation or indecision. They collected six of the eight remaining wickets, evoking the damage inflicted by Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman last time around, not to mention their own exploits against Australia and New Zealand 12 months ago.With Shoaib Malik completing his final Test appearance by taking a seven-wicket haul, it meant Pakistan’s spinners had collected 9 for 101 in England’s second innings. That was nearly half as many wickets as England’s trio of Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Samit Patel managed in the entire series. With 15 from just two Tests, Yasir reigned supreme.Defeat by a two-Test margin means England will slip to No. 6 in the rankings, another UAE comedown after the euphoria of Ashes victory during the summer, though they were handicapped in their efforts to level the series by the injury to Ben Stokes on the first day. He came out to bat at No. 10 in the second innings, despite the forlorn match situation and a strapped-up shoulder, before a leg-side stumping off Yasir ended England’s pain.Pakistan’s legspinner had trained with Shane Warne before the match and this was a final-day dismantling of which the Australian would have been proud. Joe Root, the No. 1-ranked batsman recently referred to by a team-mate as one of the best players of spin in the world, was lbw to Yasir’s fourth ball of the morning, back when he should have been forward, and it caused a detonation as brutally effective as pulling the pin from a grenade.Yasir Shah removed Joe Root in his first over and finished with 4 for 44•Getty Images

England have shown plenty of guts against Pakistan this time around but here they were swiftly disembowelled. A target of 284 was well beyond anything they had previously managed in Asia but their displays of resilience on tour had encouraged some to think they might get close.That hope disappeared quicker than a lizard darting under a rock. Root was pinned in front of leg stump by a delivery that kept low in the second over of the day, plumb enough not to bother with a review, and James Taylor only lasted long enough to bring up England’s 50 before he was drawn fatally forward by a flighted delivery from Babar that turned to kiss the edged of a slightly crooked bat and end up at slip.Pakistan had wasted their reviews on the previous day but they need not have worried. Before their final innings in Sharjah, England had been on the receiving end of just three lbw decisions, but the problem of playing the ball with their pads returned on the most exacting surface of the series and that total was more than doubled, starting with Moeen’s dismissal on the fourth evening.Jonny Bairstow and Patel fell in such fashion in successive overs, the latter for a golden duck, as England’s slide became terminal, losing 3 for 2 in 12 deliveries. Bairstow was hit on the thigh pad in front of middle stump trying to sweep his way out of trouble, England’s final review burned in the process, and Patel succumbed to the contagion by missing a straight one from Babar that would have clipped leg.From 59 for 6, and with visions of Abu Dhabi three years ago – when they imploded for 72 chasing 145 – swimming through addled English minds, Cook and Rashid did a respectable patch-up job, adding 49 for the seventh wicket and briefly bringing a sense of calm to proceedings. Rashid has demonstrated a propensity for fifth-day heroics but this was beyond even him and Rahat Ali brought the ball back to defeat a loose drive shortly before lunch.Cook alone weathered the desert storm, maintaining his focus even as the ball beat the bat or rapped the pads and Pakistani appeals tore the air. He narrowly avoided falling to Yasir’s leg trap again on 20 and a top-edged sweep off Malik landed a yard short of deep square leg having made 44. He remained defiant, gallumphing down the pitch to loft Babar for a one-bounce four over long-on and reverse-sweeping another boundary off Yasir.He was joined on the burning deck by Stokes, after Stuart Broad had miscued a sweep off Yasir to square leg. Stokes would never willingly shirk a battle and he looked to be moving a little more freely after his collar bone injury, taking on Wahab Riaz’s bouncers and betraying only a wince when sweeping Yasir powerfully for four.That was the most encouraging sight of the day, as far as England were concerned, and with the pips thoroughly squeaked Cook walked past a delivery from Malik to be stumped for only the third time in his Test career. Cook faced more than 900 balls in the series, another half-century taking him clear at the top of the run-scorers’ list. But such an outstanding individual contribution could not compete with Pakistan’s collective brilliance.

Rangers’ Premiership form in 2022 has been ‘sackable’ for Giovanni van Bronckhorst, according to Football Scotland journalist Mark McDougall. 

The lowdown

Rangers slipped up at home on Sunday, spurning an opportunity to close the gap on the league leaders.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side could have moved to within a point of their Glasgow arch-rivals after they were held to a goalless draw against Hibernian earlier in the day, but the Light Blues let a two-goal lead slip against Motherwell at Ibrox.

Rangers have also dropped points against Aberdeen (1-1), Ross County (3-3), Celtic (3-0) and Dundee United (1-1) in 2022.

The latest

McDougall pointed out in a tweet on Sunday evening that Rangers had only won three of the eight league games they had played since the turn of the year.

He stated: “Rangers have played eight league games in 2022 and won three of them. That’s sackable form at any club in the top six let alone Rangers.”

The verdict

Van Bronckhorst will have earned plenty of goodwill by leading his side to victory against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League play-off round. That 6-4 aggregate win was hailed as a ‘monumental scalp’ by BBC Sport.

They might well fancy their chances of beating Red Star Belgrade and advancing to the last eight in Europe, but it’s not looking as rosy on the domestic front.

Questions must be asked as to whether Rangers have the mettle for the Premiership title race given the nature of some of these setbacks. For instance, they twice led against Ross County, who are towards the bottom of the table, before conceding an equaliser in the 96th minute, and they were blitzed by Celtic in the first half of the Old Firm derby a month ago.

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On Sunday, they knew they had a chance to crank up the pressure but folded when a championship-calibre team would have been expected to exert control, especially at home.

In other news, Rangers are set for a financial boost

	Matthew Bell, at 30, firmly believes his best years are ahead of him © Getty Images

Matthew Bell, the recalled New Zealand opener, hopes the next five years of his career are played out at the highest level. Bell’s excellent domestic record this season – 722 runs at 103.14, including a double-century in the State Championship – earned him a call-up to the Test squad against Bangladesh and he attributed his success to a change of focus in during the off season.”I’ve put a lot of time and effort in and it’s nice that things are slowly but surely coming together,” Bell told the . “It’s just been about getting the physical side of things right as well as mentally.”Bell spent plenty of time with fitness trainer Jamie Tout and Christie van Dyk, Wellington’s elite player-coach, as well as with several other Wellington-based national players during the winter. “There have been a couple of people I’ve worked really hard with over the winter and things have been progressing well,” said Bell, whose one-on-one sessions with prominent rugby referee Lyndon Bray helped him “relax a little more”. “Also having a game plan that’s going to suit me and being more level-headed at the crease.”Bell, with 14 years of first-class cricket under his belt, last played in a Test in 2001 in Australia and said he learned a lot during those six years. “I guess I’ve reaped the rewards lately with having a more positive intent. I’m more conscious of trying to put the bowlers under more pressure rather than being under the microscope myself.”At 30, he believed his best years were yet to come. “First and foremost I’ve got to take the form I’ve showed for Wellington into these two Test matches and then hopefully look forward to England, which would be a real challenge,” Bell said. “I feel as though I have a lot of experience to offer. I was introduced to Test cricket at a young age and had a few set-backs but I’ve learned from them.”You look at guys like Mark Richardson, who didn’t play till he was 29 or 30, and he played for another four or five years. You don’t know what’s going to go on further down the track but it would be great to represent and score runs for my country for a long period of time.”